Optimising Publications for Google Users

Abstract

This article examines the responsibilities of libraries and librarians as Internet information publishers, in view of the popularity of Google amongst users. It argues that librarians should think explicitly about Google users whenever they publish on the web, and should be prepared to update their policies and procedures accordingly. Drawing on experience and practical examples of publishing ebooks and other collections within the Glasgow Digital Library, the article describes procedures that libraries can adopt to ensure that their publications are optimised for access by users of Google and other web search engines. The aim of these procedures is to enhance resource discovery and information retrieval, and to enhance the reputation of libraries as valued custodians of published information, as well as exemplars of good practice in information management.

Digital librarians: boundary riders on the storm

“…), but more significantly the effectiveness of its publication. Dawson (2004;2005) elaborates on this dual role, arguing that, by applying traditional principles of cataloguing, classification and information management, librarians can take full advantage of the indexing and retrieval processes offered by search engines such as Google and thus ensure that their publications are more readily discovered by end users.…”

Open access dissemination challenges: a case study

“…This collaboration chose to examine dissemination more deeply, however, in terms of how metadata might be optimized for a variety of online dissemination purposes, and more broadly, in terms of functions traditionally associated with publishers. Relatively little has been published about optimizing metadata (Dawson, 2005). Second, this case study concerns a scholarly resource rather than scholarship itself.…”